Media Advisory: CMU's College of Engineering and the Information Networking Institute Host Program To Educate Cub Scouts About Engineering Careers

Event: Thirty members of Allegheny Valley's Cub Scout Pack 445 will get hands-on experience in identifying and learning to cope with cyber bullies at a new "Scouting for Engineers" program. The program, sponsored by Carnegie Mellon's Engineering College and the Information Networking Institute (INI), is designed to educate scouts about engineering.

The Cub Scouts will participate in Carnegie Cadets, the MySecureCyberspace Game which includes a variety of missions covering how to spot spam, how to keep personal information private, how to identify website traps and how to deal with cyberbullying. They also will conduct hands-on experiments with chemical engineering professors to learn about the importance of chemistry and chemical engineering in the design and manufacture of consumer goods.

"Through the game, children and parents can learn the many challenges of information security and to help make more American households cyberaware, and in the future these children may develop an interest in cybersecurity as a career path," said Dena Haritos Tsamitis, director of the INI and director of education, training and outreach for Carnegie Mellon CyLab.

Each participant will receive a specially designed program badge and an opportunity to earn additional merit badges for continued work in engineering and science-related projects.

"These activities are a great way to introduce youth to engineering and science careers as well as explain to them how their math and science subjects in school are connected to engineering," said Annette Jacobson, associate dean for undergraduate studies and teaching professor in Chemical Engineering at CMU's College of Engineering. A projection by the U.S. Department of Labor indicates that, of the 20-fastest-growing occupations projected by 2014, 15 require significant math, science and engineering preparation.